Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence

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The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence is a nonprofit organization which runs the National Scholastics Championship (NSC), an end-of-year championship for North American high school quizbowl teams. The NSC has been run in June of each year since 1998.

In addition to running the tournament, PACE awards the Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award each year at the opening ceremony of the NSC. The award is chosen by PACE members to honor "a high school academic competition team member, advisor, or organization whose character best promotes the spirit and honor of quiz bowl competition." It is named for Ben Cooper, who, as the captain of the It's Academic quizbowl team at Georgetown Day School, worked with the PACE founders to provide a player's perspective on the plans for the inaugural NSC. Ben Cooper died in an automobile accident just before the start of his senior year. In 2004, PACE expanded its recognition program to include a "Young Ambassador" Award to recognize individuals from high school or college quizbowl programs (or alumni) for "valuable and significant contributions to the high school academic competition community". These awards are essentially the only national awards given in recognition of contributions to high school quizbowl.

Beyond running the NSC, PACE offers advice and staff assistance to high schools and colleges who run high school quizbowl tournaments. PACE does not supply questions for regular season tournaments or offer a collegiate competition program.

[edit] Summary history of the NSC

Date	Location	Champion	Runner-Up	Cooper Award	Young Ambassador Award
June 19-20, 1998	Case Western Reserve University	State College Area High School of State College, PA	Henry Ford II High School of Sterling Heights, MI	Sue Ikenberry, coach at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, on behalf of Ben Cooper
June 19-20, 1999	University of Pennsylvania	State College Area High School of State College, PA	Rockville High School of Rockville, MD	Joe Hermiller, coach at E.L. Bowsher High School in Toledo, OH
June 3-4, 2000	Furman University	State College Area High School of State College, PA	Eisenhower High School of Shelby Township, MI	Rick Barry, James Garrick, and Hodges Lewis, operators of Academic Competition Enterprises
June 16-17, 2001	Bowling Green State University	State College Area High School of State College, PA	Georgetown Day School of Washington, DC	Robert C. Grierson, editor of Scholastic Visions, the newsletter of the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association
June 15-16, 2002	The George Washington University	Richard Montgomery High School of Rockville, MD	Catholic Central High School of Redford, MI	Douglas Tyson, coach at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School of Washington, DC, and Sue Altman, producer of It's Academic, on behalf of the entire It's Academic program
June 14-15, 2003	Case Western Reserve University	Paul M. Dorman High School of Roebuck, SC	Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology of Alexandria, VA	Carolyn Hawkins, coach at Cookeville High School of Cookeville, TN
June 12-13, 2004	University of Maryland	Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies of Richmond, VA	Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology of Alexandria, VA	Paul Cain, coach at Ysleta High School of El Paso, TX	Matt Weiner, Virginia Commonwealth University and David Bykowski, formerly of Furman University & University of Michigan
June 11-12, 2005	Valencia Community College	Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology of Alexandria, VA	State College Area High School of State College, PA	Sue Korosa, coach at Copley High School of Copley, Ohio	Thomas Egan, coach at Maine South High School, formerly of the University of Illinois
June 17-18, 2006	North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics	Raleigh Charter High School of Raleigh, NC	Richard Montgomery High School of Rockville, MD	Bob Weiser, coach at Solon High School, Ohio and Dr. John Barnes, coach at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies of Richmond, VA	Eric Grunden, coach at Raleigh Charter High School, North Carolina
June 9-10, 2007	University of Michigan